Aporte de la arqueología al estudio urbano de la ciudad de Santiago de Chile: El caso de "la manzana de la catedral"

• Autores: Claudia Prado Berlien, Marco Barrientos Monsalve
• Localización: Canto Rodado: Revista especializada en patrimonio, ISSN-e 1818-2917, Nº. 6, 2011, págs. 1-32
• Idioma: español
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• Resumen
  • español

    La ciudad de Santiago del Nuevo Extremo, capital de Chile, fue fundada en 1541 y ha mantenido la misma ubicación hasta la actualidad, al igual que su centro histórico, en torno a la Plaza Mayor. Existen diversos trabajos arqueológicos desde la década de 1970 que han permitido registrar evidencias del período Colonial de la ciudad. Esta información es integrada en el proyecto de investigación de arquitectura y urbanismo La manzana de la catedral, la trama de la historia (FONDECYT N° 1090325, años 2009 y 2010).

    Con base en las evidencias arqueológicas e históricas de residencias y de la o las edificaciones de la catedral anterior a la actual, se propone una planta hipotética de la manzana para la segunda mitad del siglo diecisiete y la primera mitad del siglo dieciocho.

    Frente a las dudas surgidas sobre las características y ubicación precisa de la catedral anterior a la actual, se planteó un nuevo proyecto de investigación, que considera excavaciones arqueológicas, para entender el proceso de formación y consolidación del antiguo conjunto catedralicio.

    Esta información, a su vez, permitirá definir áreas de protección para estos bienes en los espacios en que aún se conservan.

  • English

    The city of Santiago del Nuevo Extremo, capital of Chile was founded in 1541 and has preserved the same location then. The historical nucleus also preserves its location centered by the Plaza Mayor. There have been some archaeological investigations recorded since the decade of 1970 that has yielded evidence from de Colonial Period, even though they have mainly responded to urbanistic expansions of the city that have accidentally exposed historical traits. So, the main objective of those activities was to record the evidence but did not focus on responding neither specific hypothesis nor search for explanations concerning the historical process.

    In the present article we have integrated the archaeological information collected to this day into the architectural and urbanistic project La manzana de la catedral, la trama de la historia (FONDECYT Number 1090325, years 2009 and 2010) so that the general expansion process of the city is fully understood. We also analyze the history of the urbanization of the block where the cathedral and other particular residences were constructed.

    The mentioned information gives us evidence of residential constructions from the first years of the eighteenth century, an area that was later acquired to build the cathedral. Part of the foundations, walls and pavement has been preserved and are concordant with the techniques and materials used and applied until the twentieth century. On the other hand, it gives us partial evidence of the cathedral, or cathedrals, constructed previous to 1746: foundations, columns, pavements and inhumation areas.

    The archaeological facts were not always concordant with the written descriptions we have for that period, which led us to reformulate the previous interpretations done. Based on the archaeological and written record we propose a hypothetical plan view and layout with two versions concerning the location of the old cathedral.

    A new project has been presented in order to elucidate the doubts concerning the particular characteristics and location of the religious building. Excavations will be oriented to the definition of the layout plan and specific location of the construction with a thorough review of the historical and documental facts. The understanding of the formation processes involved and further consolidation of the cathedral complex is considered as well as its relation with the development of the city during the Colonial Period. The information collected will help determine protection areas for the places where Colonial architectural evidence is present.